


The Roommate Chronicles

by Adventuresofb3e



Series: The Roommate Chronicles [1]
Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Comedy, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Romantic Comedy, Roommates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-06
Updated: 2018-10-06
Packaged: 2019-07-27 05:06:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16212023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adventuresofb3e/pseuds/Adventuresofb3e
Summary: A compilation of moments in life's journey of personal growth, relationships and the adventures of true friendship.





	The Roommate Chronicles

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, hello!  
> Welcome to my stress reliever of a story where I momentarily escape from grownup life and my other WIPs.  
> I blame hours of 'New Girl' bingeing for this. #sorrynotsorry

Nicole shifted in the driver’s seat of her squad car. The feeling of pins and needles ran through the back of her legs after sitting on side of the road for what felt like hours. Her partner had called in sick to work, leaving her alone with nothing but her thoughts for the day’s shift.

This wasn’t her normal patrol spot, but she was in need of a slow day after a wild night with her roommates and a girl- whose name she couldn’t quite remember. The officer loved her three roommates. They were really the only experience of a family that she had ever known.

It had come as a bit of a shock when her roommate Mike, of whom she was closest to, announced that he had accepted a job in another state only a month prior. The gang decided that they could only show their love and support the best way they knew how- they partied, hard. There was booze, music, an inflatable flamingo and an abundance of random strangers.

Getting out of the apartment that morning had been equivalent to an expert round of ‘the floor is lava’ but with the added obstacles of alcohol infused bodies passed out and laid across the floors, tables and seating areas of their home. It was an absolute miracle that Nicole made it to work at all.

She was mentally counting down the hours until her shift ended and they would all meet up at the diner down the street from their home for greasy hangover food and milkshakes. Her mouth watered in memory of her favorite mega cheese burger, made with so much grease that it rolled down the sides of her hands every time she took a bite. Or perhaps the feeling was actually her body hinting that she was about to puke up all those Rumplemint shots that Wynonna kept shoving into her hand all night.

A groan escaped her as she reached for her coffee cup in the center console. The slight pressure of her duty belt against her stomach reignited the nausea she had fought to keep down. The warm liquid was a temporary comfort to her hangover. Relishing in its warmth, Nicole tipped her head back to lean against the seat as her eyes slowly blinked to a close.

A loud, rapid beep of her radar startled her out of the light slumber as a red Jeep tore down the lone highway.

“Shit!” Nicole struggled to right herself, flipping on her lights and siren before throwing the squad car into gear to pursue the offender.

The vehicle’s driver was quick to pull off to the side of the road, much to the officer’s relief. Dealing with an evaded arrest was definitely not on her to-do list for the day. Nicole quickly entered the license plates into her laptop. The record came up clean. It looked like this was just going to be a routine speeding ticket and a ‘ _Please watch your speed_ ’.

She pulled on her black gloves and grabbed her citation pad, stepping out of the car and walking cautiously up to the side of the Jeep. Slowly sweeping the flap of her jacket to the side, her hand hooked onto the grip of her firearm out of instinct and habit.

Traffic stops always felt like fortune cookie to her. She never knew what kind of personality she was going to get, no matter how many times she tried to guess. Over time it had become a game that she and her partner would play while out on patrol. It wasn’t completely professional, but it helped the time pass a little faster. Nicole had liked to think that she was pretty spot on with most of her predictions, but she had not guessed that the offender in question would be a sweet looking twenty-some year old with red puffy eyes and mascara running down her face.

The girl rolled down her window and quickly turned down the sad country song that played on the radio. At a glance, Nicole could tell that she had been crying for a while. Tissues scattered the passenger seat; some chocolate wrappers were thrown onto the dash and the rest of the vehicle was packed to the max with what looked like personal belongings.

“Uh, hello m-ma’am” Nicole said hesitantly. She wasn’t good with criers- not because she didn’t care, but more because she never knew what to say. “I’m sorry I had to pull you over, but you were going a good thirty miles over the speed limit”.

The girl looked at Nicole with a pained expression as tears welled into her eyes and she bit back a sob. The moment probably would’ve been slightly comical had Nicole not felt so awkward standing on the side of the road with an emotional train wreck. She was way too hungover for this.

“I’m so sorry officer” she sniffed, wiping her under eyes with the sleeve of her hoodie. “I just went through a bad break up. I swear I don’t usually speed. I-I like following the law” her voice broke, failing miserably to choke back another sob. The driver grabbed an already crinkled tissue and blew her nose. Nicole winced at the sound and shifted her feet, unsure of what to say.

“It’s uh- it’s okay?” she said hesitantly as she scribbled on her citation pad. Moments like these were always the oddest and the type that she tried to avoid if possible.

There was no question that Nicole could run at top speed and hurdle fences to catch a perp. She didn’t hesitate to ready herself when arriving as back up on a hostile threat. Every time their precinct conducted their annual week of tactical training, she was everyone’s first pick. But when it came to handling emotional women, she was at a complete loss. Tearing the last of the paper free, she hesitantly lifted the ticket up to the driver’s window in her gloved hand.

The driver sniffed a few more times, before looking over and noticing the citation presented to her. Her expression changed in a series of sadness to disbelief and on to anger as she looked from the ticket to the officer, “Are you frigg’n kidding me?! I just told you I went through a bad break up and now you’re giving me a ticket?!”.

“Ma’am you were going thirty over the limit. I have to give you a ticket”

The girl snatched the ticket from the officer’s hand as Nicole was still trying process the whiplash of the driver’s emotions. “Well thanks for piling on to my shitty day, Officer…” the driver strained to read the officer’s name badge.

“Haught.” Nicole answered, only to receive a drastic eye roll in return.

“Wow- _oookay_ , well thanks for adding on to my debt and ruining my day even further” she said, forcefully shoving the citation into her console. “..and no offense, but trying to pick up vulnerable women on the job isn’t actually professional. Especially when you have coffee all over your uniform”

“Wha- “Nicole looked down to see the offending coffee stain in the middle of her shirt. She cursed under her breath and self-consciously wiped her gloved hand over the offending area that had long since dried.

“Have a great day, Officer Douchebag” she said sarcastically, peeling off the side of the road and back onto the highway. Nicole stood frozen in place as the Jeep disappeared into the distance.

“What the hell…pff, I have better game than that. What a loony.” she muttered under her breath, processing the last three minutes.

One of the upsides of being a police officer was the ability to look up information on almost anyone you wanted. The information was literally at your fingertips.

Now, was it ethical to pull info on people without an ‘official’ reason? Probably not.

Did Nicole enjoy peeking when it was someone she had to deal with that was rather difficult or rude? Damn straight.

Retreating back to the warmth of her squad car, she bit down on a finger of her black tactical glove and yanked her hand free. The screen on her patrol laptop came to life with a tap of the keyboard, showing the name registered to the vehicle again.

**Gus McCready**

“Hmm” The name sounded familiar, but after a minute of rolling it around in her head, the officer still couldn’t place it. “Well she sure didn’t look like a, Gus” she huffed.

Nicole’s phone chirped, pulling her attention away from her search of the emotionally crazed driver.

_[Wynonna]_ : Hey, new plan- we’re ordering in pizza. Just come home when you’re done with your shift.

_[Nicole]_ : …but what about the milkshakes? :(

_[Wynonna]_ : Remember last week when you were complaining about your khakis fitting too tight?

_[Nicole]_ : That’s rude…but valid.

_[Nicole]_ : wait- how would pizza be any better

_[Wynonna]_ : We’ll add spinach to it. It’s basically like a salad on bread.

_[Nicole]_ : You should really consider taking a nutrition class…just sayin.

 

The day continued to drag on for Nicole until she was finally pulling into the parking garage of their city loft. Entering her apartment, she tossed her keys into the bowl on the entry table with a tired sigh. The remainder of her patrol was relatively quiet, but Nicole had hit the last half of her hangover about four hours ago. All she wanted to do was kick off her boots, hang up her belt and pass out on the couch with Netflix and pizza.

The voices of her two roommates hushed when she trudged into the living area and hung her belt on the coat rack.

“Wow dude, you look like shit”

“Nice to see you too, Wynonna” the redhead collapsed on the sofa next her friend. She bent over to rip at the laces of her boots, kicking them off at the heel and propped her feet on the table.

This was her favorite part of the day; sitting in her spot on their worn sofa, feeling the cool air from the ceiling fan run through her socks. It was only then that she realized the lack of beer cans and solo cups that had riddled most of the apartment’s surfaces earlier that morning.

“When did you clean?” she asked with surprise

. “Yeaaaah, about that-“ Wynonna’s voice did that high pitch thing it does when she knows she’s going to be in trouble. “We’re actually going to have a visitor for a little bit. Jeremy figured it was best not to force them to live in filth their first day here.”

Nicole tilted her head down, leveling a stare at her roommate. “I’m sorry…when say you say, ‘live here’, exactly how long are they staying for?”

Wynonna was never really great at lying or hiding things and the look she wore on her face was no exception. Nicole knew that she wasn’t going to like the answer to that question.

“Okay, before you get mad-“

“Why would I get mad Wynonna?” she replied curtly.

Jeremy could tell by Nicole’s tone that she wasn’t in the mood to mess with Wynonna’s beat-around-the-bush style of delivering information. He pushed off of the side of the counter where he had been previously devouring half of a Hawaiian pizza and interjected the conversation before things got worse.

“Look, with Mike gone we’re gonna be short one person on rent. So, it’s either rent out his room or we’re all going to have to fork over more money” Jeremy reasoned from his perch on the kitchen counter.

“I can’t believe you guys! He’s barely been gone for twelve hours and you’re already giving away his room!”

“No no no!” Wynonna pleaded, grabbing Nicole’s arm when she moved to leave. “I know this looks bad, but it’s not at all how we meant for it to happen. My baby sister called me, because she needed a place to stay for a while. It’s just coincidence that she called me on the same day that Mike left, swear!”

Nicole stared unconvinced at Wynonna who was giving her some impressive ‘I’m sorry’ puppy eyes. If she was completely honest, she would’ve just admitted to them both that she was crushed at the thought of not having Mike around anymore. She wasn’t ready to see his room occupied by another person. They had lived across the hall from each other in their apartment since college, and now her best friend and the closest thing she would ever have to a sibling was gone.

As much as Nicole wanted to be mad, she knew that helping out her friend’s sister was the right thing to do. Annoyed at the internal conflict, she rolled her eyes and let out a defeated breath. “Is she aware of how much rent is and that some of us have to work night shifts?”

Wynonna stood up and answered her with a smile and tight hug. Nicole knew then that she had made the right choice, because Wynonna was definitely not a hugger. The most contact they ever had were bro-styled fist bumps, with the exception of that one time two years ago- but that was a forbidden subject.

“So, where is she-?”

“-Wy do you have an extra towel I could borro-“

There in opening of the hallway stood the woman from the red Jeep that she had pulled over earlier that day. Her mouth fell open in disbelief when she made eye contact with Nicole; recognition immediately washing over her face.

Nicole looked between Wynonna and the girl standing in the hallway, “This psycho is your sister?!” she asked, pointing towards the stranger in shocked disbelief.

“What did you just call my sister?”

“Well if it isn’t Officer Douchebag!”

Jeremy quickly moved to position himself between the three before things got out of hand. “Whoa, ladies!” He laughed awkwardly, making a reasoning gesture with his hands. “It sounds to me like we might have a bit of a misunderstanding here. Why don’t we talk it out? You know- no need to get started on the wrong foot here”

Nicole completely ignored Jeremy’s plea, taking advantage of the quick silence to defend herself first.

“I’m a douchebag?! What, just because I didn’t let you get away with a warning and wrote you a citation? It’s called doing my job, lady!”

“You gave my sister a ticket?” Wynonna asked in surprise.

“Wynonna- she was going thirty over the speed limit!”

“That wasn’t even the worst part!” The girl in the hallway interrupted; pointing angrily at Nicole. “Your roommate tried to hit on me!”

Wynonna immediately reached over to shove Nicole in the shoulder, “You hit on Waverly?! What the fuck, Nicole?!”

“I didn’t hit on your sister!” she said, looking wide-eyed back at Wynonna. She was not in the mood for a physical altercation with her best friend.

“Yes, you did!” Waverly piped up, “I asked you for your name and you said it was Officer Hot. I mean, get over yourself. What kind of a horrible pickup line is that anyways?”

Wynonna ran both her hands down her face with frustration, immediately realizing the misunderstanding. Dammit, she hated it when Jeremy was right!

“Wave, she wasn’t trying to hit on you. Her name is Haught, as in H-A-U-G-H-T.” Wynonna explained.

“Oh” the comment was so quiet that Nicole almost didn’t hear it. Waverly looked down at her feet; embarrassment of the situation evident in the slouch of her shoulders.

“Well now that we got that out of the way. Nicole this is Waverly, Waverly- Nicole” the elder sister introduced giving Nicole a light smack on her shoulder.

It was a loving gesture that Nicole was accustomed to with her roommate. Wynonna was never really great with talking about feelings, but thankfully neither Nicole or Jeremy required much verbal validation. Wynonna released a sigh and moved toward the kitchen, “I think this calls for some whiskey”. Jeremy turned on his heel to follow behind her.

Nicole walked towards Waverly, exhaustion falling back onto her face and shoulders. “Extra towels are in the bathroom lockers” she said unenthusiastically, passing the younger sister and continuing down the hall to her room.

Waverly waited for the door to click shut to turn and follow Nicole’s path down the hallway, only to veer the opposite direction towards the community styled bathroom.

A little over an hour had passed since the uncomfortable introduction of Nicole and Waverly. Wynonna, Waverly and Jeremy all sat in comfortable silence on their worn sectional couch, watching the last half of a scary movie that Wynonna had picked off of Netflix. The movie had just reached the height of its scare climax when Nicole’s dark shadow appeared in the hallway that opened on the left side of the television. The three roommates all shrieked simultaneously at the sight. The redhead entered the room with questioning look on her face.

“What’s your issue?”

“Do you mind? We’re watching a scary movie and it’s finally to the good part.” Jeremy emphasized by tossing a few kernels of popcorn at Nicole when she plopped down next to him in her spot.

“How have you guys not seen this one yet?” Nicole questioned, to which no one bothered an answer. “You guys know that they all die, right?”

A chorus of huffs and sighs expelled from the other three roommates. Jeremy got up from the couch, setting the popcorn bowl on the coffee table and left grumbling for his room. Wynonna followed suit, picking up the half empty whiskey bottle that sat next to the popcorn bowl and detouring to her room.

“Oh no, wait guys- come back” Nicole pleaded in a dead monotonous tone. She waited until she heard the sound of Wynonna’s door shut to reach for the remote. Taking a moment to think her next action through, she looked over at Waverly. “Hey uh, I’m sorry- did you want to keep watching this?”

Waverly was hesitant to answer, realizing that it was just the two of them left alone. Figuring she couldn’t go wrong with the truth, she answered “Honestly, I hate scary movies but I’m the new kid. I already messed up enough for one day, so I didn’t want to intrude.”

Nicole looked down and fussed with the cuticle of her thumb, deciphering her response. She was tired, and it was so much easier to be an asshole when she was tired. Being nice took more energy and effort than what she had left for the day. Stealing a glance of her new roommate from the corner of her eye, she noticed that her eyes were still a little swollen from crying all day. Sitting there at the opposite end of the sectional couch was no longer the psycho woman who had yelled at Nicole, but rather a person that was experiencing a pain with no physical form. A pain that Nicole had finally rid herself from. The cop sighed. It was bad enough to go through a break up -good or bad- but adding that with a completely new environment and a bad first impression was even worse.

“You didn’t mess up, you just had a really bad day. I didn’t exactly make it better for you either.” Nicole shrugged. A small smile crept onto the younger Earp’s features. She looked different when she smiled, Nicole thought. Way less psycho and a tad sweeter.

“I really do like to follow the law you know.” The random comment caught Nicole off guard and pulled a tired laugh from her. “Are you sure you’re an Earp?” she asked doubtfully. Maybe Waverly wasn’t so bad after all. Maybe it was worth a try to befriend her. It would at least help ease the living together part.

They sat in easy silence while Nicole scrolled through the Netflix menu.

“I hate scary movies too”

“Really?” Waverly was surprised at the officer’s confession.

“Yeah, I deal with enough weird, scary stuff on the job. I don’t need to experience more of it on my off time.”

They shared a small laugh while Nicole navigated back to the menu and picked a RomCom from the new arrivals list. “Wanna watch this one?” she asked, pointing at the tv with the remote.

Waverly nodded and moved to stretch out amongst the recently vacated space on the couch. The opening scene started, and they sat in comfortable silence together. They were halfway through the movie when Waverly’s mind had begun to wander off, replaying the day over in her mind. Walking into her apartment to find another woman in bed with her boyfr- with her ex-boyfriend. The way that he stormed out, no doubt heading for the bar, after yelling at her for over reacting. How she had grabbed every object and piece of clothing that she could stuff into her Jeep. The seven-hour drive to the city, and the anger that only held for an hour before her resolve had broken. The looks she received when she walked into the gas station for chocolate and four boxes of tissues. The lump of pride she forced herself to swallow down as she dialed Wynonna’s number and asked for a place to stay. The extra pressure she applied to the accelerator in effort to get her to her sister’s faster, so she could curl up in a ball and cry. Her heart breaking a little more when Nicole handed her that damned speeding ticket. As painful and embarrassing as it was to remember the way she had yelled at her.

“Hey Nicole”

“Hmm?” she responded half asleep.

“I’m sorry for today and earlier this evening.”

“ S’okay, just watch your speed” she mumbled, letting out a soft snore soon after.

Waverly looked over and noted the soft features of her new roommate. The faintest hint of the crease that sat between her well defined eyebrows, the curve of her jawline, the fullness of her lips and the slight part made from escaped breath.

The younger Earp took a deep breath, willing herself to focus back on the cheesy movie playing on the television. Her whole world had completely turned upside down in barely twenty-four hours. There were so many reasons, beyond Champ’s infidelity, that had pushed her out the door and she wasn’t so sure that she was ready to deal with all of them just yet.

_“One thing at a time”_ she thought to herself.

Waverly had always craved the grand adventures that she read about in all of her favorite books and a true, sincere companionship like the ones of all those she followed on social media; but real life was about baby steps. It may have taken her longer to build up the courage and she might have started off a little wobbly, but this was it. The teeniest, tiniest first step. At least maybe should wouldn’t be alone now.


End file.
